Small Kitchen Organization

When you are in a small space like a studio, tiny house, or even an apartment organization can mean the difference between space and chaos. I had the chance to organize my sister’s kitchen this past week which is small. Aside from the kitchen being small she also must share the kitchen with her roommate. So, their already few cabinets are split between the two of them.

Below is a list of other small kitchen organization hacks that I could not do in my sister’s kitchen.

The container cabinet

We all have that cabinet that is just for our plastic/glass storage containers. It is the one you see in commercials always falling on people. Which aside from the dramatization of the number of containers coming out of the cabinet it is pretty relatable. I am guilt of it to. The biggest problem with this cabinet is that we go in looking for the right size container. So, when you are looking for that container you just toss and throw back the ones you do not need leaving a huge mess behind.

How do you help prevent this? I will not lie this is one of the hardest cabinets I have come across to keep organized and to be honest it could probably have its own blog post.

To start you need to do is go through your cabinet and match all your containers with a lid. The ones that are damaged or do not have a match should be thrown away. Trust me there is no reason to keep them.

Once you have decluttered your cabinet you can know figure out the space you have to work with. Does your cabinet have two shelves? If your cabinet does I highly suggest grabbing a shelf hanging basket. These lovely inventions are my new best friend for creating space in my cabinets. My sister’s container cabinet does not have two shelves, but you can see the product in use in her plates cabinet. The basket can be used to store the lids or the smaller containers you have.

My sister’s cabinet as mentioned is only one shelf. So, for hers I have simply cleaned out the cabinet and stacked all the square and round containers in nice stacks. This method is super easy to do and is the cheapest. Your biggest problem with this method is keeping it looking that nice. Since all the different sizes are just stacked together you will still have to neatly put the ones away you do not want to use.

Plates and Other things

A kitchen can be organized in so many ways depending on your budget and cabinet space. For my sister’s kitchen, she has her glass bakeware, plates, cups, and other small gadgets in one cabinet. We spent the most on products for this cabinet. Since, it was the most used and crowded cabinet in her kitchen. I had her get a bottom hanging shelf for her small items like her wine opener, measuring cups, and her to-go lids. To help add even more space we found a great three shelf dish organizer. Which I was able to stack all of her plates and my son’s plates and bowls on. Just by adding these two items the cabinet has more floor room for her belongings.

Food Cabinet

This is a decent size apartment, but like most apartments there is not a pantry. My sister and her roommate have all their non-freezer/fridge items in one cabinet. Please note they are in their early 20’s with no kids. Living the life of a single adult and still learning to #adult. For this cabinet, I added a decorative box to clump together all the snack food items. This way the bags and boxes do not have to be neatly put in the cabinet. I did not do it in the picture, but you can add a piece of washi tape that says snacks. With the rest of the items I simply arranged them so like items were together and tidier. There is so much more you can do with this cabinet such as;

- Put all rice in recycled spaghetti jars

- Get a box for all your noodles

- Get a few can organizers – I like and have a few of these for my own pantry

Under the sink

This area is almost always a mess no matter what home I go to. It is that area we tend to keep junk and cleaning products. Best piece of advice for this cabinet is to only keep the inside cleaning products. However, if you are truly limited on space everywhere else then go ahead and add in your outdoor cleaning products.

Like the storage container cabinet, you will want to go through and throw all the products that are empty or you do not use away. If you are a DIY essential oil cleaning type PLEASE do not save the bottles for those products. The plastic hold’s in the toxins form the store-bought cleaner and can pollute your DIY cleaner. Always go glass or at least new bottles when making your own cleaners.

I only had one decorative box left once I made it to this cabinet, but will be getting another for a more organized area. This area is fairly basic get a few boxes and put like cleaners in the box. In my sister’s case I put all her cleaners in the box.

There a few other ideas that are great for this cabinet. One of my favorites is to find a little caddy (like the one I used in the car organization blog) to make an easy to carry basic cleaning kit. If you are a DIY cleaner the bottles are normally slightly smaller and the three tier spice rack organizers are a great way to store those cleaners and still see everything you have.

A list for small and no pantry kitchens

1) Use all your space- get some nice crates to store on top of your fridge with items like potatoes, onions, baking pans, reusable bags, or other items that do not get used often.

2) Be creative. A few wall hooks can make a great addition to the underside of your cabinet. Use the hooks to store your coffee cups. You can also create a circle shape with the hooks and store your cooking utensils the same way.

3) Go Bold. If you have the budget and believe the entire household can keep it looking good then give this a try. Install a few shelves in your kitchen. Find some fancy boxes or nice-looking glassware to store food items in. This would be a make shift/ open air pantry.

4) Really limited on space? Try storing your spices on the fridge. There are plenty of nice magnet containers out there that would be great for keeping spices in. I suggest storing them on the side of the fridge instead on the front.

5) Use a rod. Find a sturdy tension rod for the inside of your cabinet. Use shower hooks to hang your pots and fry pans. Have the floor space for baking sheets or lids. (If you own the home use wood glue/ super glue to secure the rod)

6) More boxes. Grab a few larger boxes and separate your plastic ware into the boxes by size and shape.

Organized Kitchen

Y’all it is all about reaching outside the box to find ideas that you would never think of. If you are not already please follow me on Pinterest. I have a board dedicated just to organization and have recently started one just for the kitchen. As a sahp you spend so much time in your kitchen preparing meals, snacks, drinks, and cleaning that this area should be easily manageable. An easily manageable kitchen will allow you to spend more time baking that cake or getting your kid his 5th cup of juice in an hour.

As always share your pictures on Instagram with #Imitationlife and #ImitationKitchen. Leave a comment below with your favorite idea or an idea I did not share.